Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-21
BADLY NEEDED.
A Reform School Where Boys Like
Jimmy Phillips Could Be Sent to
Better Their Morals.

Ano need OF q reformatory institution o
some Kind in this county was painful,
evidenced yesterday. Three boys wer,
'e'ed before Judge L~ippincottfor theft, AMI
showed that one of them wa utterly re
CARELESS OF the rights Of property and con
nrmeo In evil ways. All Judge Lippincott
couid 90 was to impose q jail sentence of 9
month. But this will have no permanent
erect on such q youth. Were there a re
form school where he could be sent for 9
couple OF years the result would be more
likely to be beneficial. There he would be
Kept out al mischievous associations lona
enough perhaps to wean him from the
VICIOUS courses he seems to have entered
upon. and he would be obliged to
learn q useful trade which might instil into
him the principles OF industry and direct
his energies il a channel beneficial to him
sell and the community. As it is, he will
1or thirty day associate with criminals
all older in vice than himself, and what is
most likely to result? His graduation in
such a place can have only one result,
unless Sheriff Lloyd can keep him utterly
secluded, in sight and hearing, from the
rest of his Jail birds.
Jimmy Phillips, Denny Doyle and Willie
Burton, the boys who ran away to Ana
conda last week, charged with the theft of
pany, were tried at 8 O'Clock yesterday af-
~ternoon, before Judge Lippincott.
j. Carter, collector OF that company,
was the first witness examined, and testi-
fed to missing the saddle about April 3Oth.
Last Friday some boys told him where it
was. and he went to the stable behind
Phillips house on Wyoming street and
found the saddle on the floor with the flaps
cut of. He recognized it as one he had
been using. He told Mrs. Phillips Of the
affair, AND she offered no objection to his
taking it. The saddle was worth about
$25.
Peter Bigelow and Frank Newberry, two
boys about IA. testified they first saw the
saddle on the front porch of the Phillips
house about q couple of weeks ago. One
of the accused lads, Bnrton, told them
Phillips got the saddle in a lumber yard
quite a while ago. Phillips had q horse in
the stable which they were told he got out
by the race track. They told him he had
better let the horse go or he would get into
trouble. They were asked about the own
ership OF a gun which Phillips father
brought up to the Court and turned over
as what he supposed to be stolen property
and understood it had been gotin trade for
d WHCCn IrOm auOCnor boy.
Willie Burton and Denny Doyle, two
of the youths who ran of, were examined
by the Judge about their knowledge of the
and other articles. Burton, in a
childish way, confirmed the previous testi-
mony. Willie lisps like q two-year-old,
he is 10. and was so much Of an in.
fant that he did not know what an oath
was and had no conception of the difference
truth and falsehood. Heis q very F.
child.
The Judge called Jimmy Phillips to the |
stand. He understood the nature
Of an oath. He admitted getting the
in q stable in the lum-
Der yard. He didn't know whose
it was. He took the saddle and
tut one side of and fixed it 80 he could
possession of the horse, he replied without
5he least embarrassment that it was given
70 him by a man out by the race track.
He was following the horse. and the man
turned round and ave it to him. The
Judge vainly endeavored to fathom the
rue inwarduess Of the %whopper, but
Jimmy stuck to his assertion without the
change of co%untenance. He is a
'ery smart little fellow, a good deal older
han his age, which is nearly 10, instead OF
ID, as first supposed. His parents. have
lad q great amount OF CrOuDl6 WlIn Hlm,
md his father had previously told the
Judge to give him the limit OF
he law, as he was unable to improve him
With personal chastisement. It is q pity
o bright a lad should have made such a
,ad beginning, and Judge Lippincott said
10 much in sentencing him. He told him
I he kept on he would land in the peniten-
but he hoped that the correction he
vas going to give him now would show him
hat when he took what didn't belong to
i'm others besides his parents would OBJ
ect to it and punish him worse than they
vculd. He sentenced him to thirty days
d Jail, and discharged Willie Burton and
Jenny Doyle. The sentence didn't phaze
Jimmy in the least. He looked after Bur
and Doyle as they left the room with
N air that meant just five minutes outside
Nth them and no interference and he could
o to jail happy.